Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, while checking my RSS feed for FatWallet, I'd happened upon a posting for a $0.69 firesteel/"ferro rod" from MeritLine after coupon + free shipping. I figured it was worth a try. I'd never ordered from MeritLine before, but I do trust the people of FatWallet; when a deal seems too good to be true or if it's a not-well-known seller, there's always someone who is willing to "test" them out and report back with findings.
Anyway, MeritLine is similar to another site that I used to use, DealExtreme. They are based in Asia (I'm sure all in China) and have very inexpensive items for sale, all boasting free shipping. The only "downside" (not going to be bringing politics or economics into this, people!) is that it takes a good 3 weeks or so for your items to arrive.
A couple of days ago, I'd come home from school to find that my firesteel had come home. At first I couldn't get it to strike with the striker that it came with. So I went ahead and scraped off the black "coating" of the firesteel itself with my knife to get to the sweet metal under. The striker still had some problems; it would create great sparks on one side (the shorter side) but would not scrape diddily squat on the other (longer side). I tried scraping the green paint off of it to see if creating a coarse edge would work, but to no avail.**
After a quick nap, for whatever reason, I woke up and decided to run it through my Smith's knife sharpener/honer. The result? The striker works like a charm on both sides! If out in the wilderness, I would much rather use the intended striker with these firesteels than the blade of my knife. I don't think any of my knives have a usable backside of the blade for the firesteel; much too thick/rounded.
:) I'd read a lot of people buying the Chinese made firesteels and be happy with their rod but not the striker itself. Maybe this is the solution? Happy firesteeling. :D Please be careful.
** I think it's intended that you use the toothy end of the striker to strike the rod, but I find that using the straight sides give me better grip and emits greater sparks; heck, I don't think I've ever been able to create sparks using the toothy side. I'd figure that since you could use the straight blade of a knife (or its backside) to create sparks, there's no reason that the straight side of the included striker wouldn't work. :)
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